2011 has seen sales for SOLASOLV® anti-glare, heat rejecting roller screens for navigation bridge and control room windows increase in the offshore oil and gas market.
The screens, which are manufactured by UK based Solar Solve Marine, use a specialist shade film which protects bridge crew against the effects of sun glare and solar gain, whilst offering a clear outward view when navigating. The film is also tinted to lower brightness levels which significantly reduce eye-strain, ensuring modern bridge equipment displays are easier to read so human errors are less likely to occur. An aluminium layer laminated inside the film rejects heat to reduce fatigue by creating a more comfortable and cooler working environment for crew. Less demand is also placed on bridge air-conditioning systems which require additional fuel consumption to run so environmentally conscious fleet owners can benefit from fuel savings while lowering their CO2 emissions if they install screens at every window on the bridge.
In January an order for SOLASOLV® sunscreens was received from Maersk UK for the Maersk Resilient, a 350ft jack up drilling rig, and then two weeks later an order was received from Technip UK for the Deep Constructor, a powerful deepwater pipelay and multipurpose subsea construction vessel. An order for the Eirik Raude, another drilling rig soon followed and now in the last month Seadrill has placed orders for the West Aquarius, a semi-submersible drilling unit and the West Gemini a deepwater drill ship.
Paul Hopkins, Solar Solve’s Sales and Marketing Executive commented, “The offshore sector has proved to be a very good area for the sale of our products in 2011. It appears that the people who use SOLASOLV® sunscreens value their benefits highly and word is spreading about how effective they are as we are continuing to receive more and more orders from this market.”
